Nelson bill aims to prevent Cuban oil drilling near Keys

Saturday

Apr 29, 2006 at 12:01 AM

JENNIFER KAYAssociated Press

MIAMI - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson announced legislation Friday to keep Cuba from oil drilling in the waters between the Caribbean island nation and the Florida Keys.
The Democratic senator's bill would block the renewal of a 1977 international agreement allowing Cuba to conduct commercial activity near the Keys - unless Cuba would agree not to put oil rigs in the Florida Straits close to the low-lying island chain off Florida's southern tip.
"At risk are the Florida Keys and the state's tourism economy, not to mention the $8 billion that Congress is investing to restore the Everglades," Nelson in a statement.
The 1977 Maritime Boundary Agreement dividing control of the 90 miles of sea between Cuba and the Keys must be renewed every two years, and was last renewed in 2004.
Nelson's legislation would also deny visas to executives of foreign oil companies who continue drilling off Cuba's northern coast.
A message left for the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., was not immediately returned.
In a February meeting in Mexico with U.S. energy executives, Cuban officials announced plans to double their drilling capacity and explore for oil offshore. Since the discovery of oil deposits off its coast two years ago, Cuba has signed exploration deals with Canadian, Chinese, Indian and Norwegian firms.
Nelson has joined Mel Martinez, Florida's Republican senator, in opposing efforts to allow oil and gas drilling off the state's Gulf coast, saying drilling could interfere with military training and poses environmental risks that could threaten beaches vital to Florida's tourism industry.
A Martinez spokesman said he could not immediately comment Friday.
U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., who last year co-sponsored legislation that would have removed drilling moratoriums in parts of the Gulf of Mexico, called Nelson's bill an "attempt to control the national energy policy of Cuba."
Other countries already drill just as close to the coasts of other states, Peterson said.
"If Mr. Nelson was serious about preventing foreign nations from producing energy off our coasts, his bill would seek to obstruct the Canadian drilling program as well - which has set up shop off Maine in the east, Washington state in the West, and Lake Erie in the north," Peterson said in a statement.
U.S. companies are prohibited from doing business with Cuba under a 45-year-old trade embargo.